Have you already committed to using a plate chiller? I was convinced it was the way to go, then after buying a pump and 30 plate chiller, realized it was terribly inconvenient. I now use
a quality immersion chiller efficiently and chill in less time than I used to with my plate chiller. [/URL]
An immersion chiller is cheaper, easier to clean, and doesn't get clogged like a plate chiller can. An immersion chiller is much faster than putting a kettle in a water bath to cool (only realistic up to 5 gallons).
Having said that, an immersion chiller is NOT faster than a plate chiller, if we are talking time to get from flameout to time to pitch yeast.
The same surface area increase that makes an immersion chiller faster than a water bath, makes a plate chiller faster than an immersion chiller. Also, an immersion chiler wastes a TON more water in the process over a plate chiller, as the rate of temperature change slows as the chilling water and the wort become closer in temperature. For some people that is a big factor, for others, not so much.
My experience with a 10 gallon batch was that it took almost an hour to get down to pitching temps with an immersion chiller (using water in the mid 50F temp range.) With an admittedly oversized Duda Diesel B3-36A-30 plate chiller, I go from whatever my temps are at the end of the 20 minute whirlpool (180-190F) going in to 66F coming out, and can get the entire batch through in under 10 minutes. First time I used it, I was shocked that the wort was coming out in the 50F range (basically the same as the ground water temp), had to slow the chilling water going in it to bring the wort coming out back up into the 60's, as I was pitching an ale yeast.
You simply can't do that with an immersion chiller. You can make great beer with an immersion chiller, and some people might not mind relaxing for a bit while the wort cools. Me, my brew day is long enough, saving 45 minutes with a plate chiller is worth it to me. If you're making lagers, the time savings would be hours.
A plate chiller does take more time to clean correctly than an immersion chiller, so in that way I can see it being less convenient than an immersion chiller. If you have a pump ONLY to use with the chiller, that ups the cost differnce quite a bit, too. As I'm running eHERMS and am pumping hot PBW around the system anyways, it was no big change in my cleaning load to backflush the plate chiller at the same time. I can even use the output on the plate chiller to fill my HLT with hot water for cleaning. Then, the day before I brew, I pull the rubber gasket out of the female hose connection on the water side of the plate chiller and put it in the oven for an hour at 350F, then turn it off and let it sit overnight. Voila, sterilized plate chiller ready to go!
Getting back to your original question, I'm using a BK with a tangential inlet so that I can whirlpool with a pump. This along with a Brewers Hardware filter works pretty good with pellet hop gunk, haven't plugged my plate chiller yet. With whole hops, I think you have to use some sort of stainless screen in the BK, whether its a large hop spider or a screen on the dip tube. Whole hops will plug a pump right/now if you don't filter them out, AMHIK. Then a plate chiller can be used without too much drama.